Butter chicken (Murgh makhani) from Indian Instant Pot Cookbook: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy & Fast (page 98) by Urvashi Pitre

Where’s the full recipe - why can I only see the ingredients?

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

  • Eat Your Books

    See recipe for vegetarian variation. Can substitute chicken thighs for chicken breasts, and coconut oil for butter.

  • merlin_fhn1cp on May 25, 2026

    This is a favorite in our family, I make it and freeze for lunches. Just a note that when unfrozen, the chicken becomes kind of shredded, but we don't mind.

  • eejackson on April 21, 2026

    This was better than I expected. I doubled the chicken, almost, and it was fine. Plenty of sauce. I also halved the cayenne out of caution. 1 tsp. seemed like a lot. Next time I'll probably use 3/4 tsp. I also don't love cilantro—soap gene—so in recipes calling for it, I generall typically add a little coriander for a lighter but similar flavor. (Coriander is the ground seeds of the cilantro plant.) I did that here as well. There will definitely be a next time.

  • jackie_r4bmdf on January 08, 2026

    If you use puréed tomatoes, you can skip the blending step. I’ve doubled the sauce recipe while tripling the meat (recipe makes surplus sauce,) and it came out great. I’ve been making this about once a month for three years, and so does my sister.

  • pastaplease on February 24, 2025

    I make this often and love it. With Pitre's recipes, I have to cut the cayenne down quite a bit so my hair won't catch fire, and I pretty much always use more than the 1lb of chicken (or whatever meat) without doubling anything else because there is always plenty of sauce to accommodate the extra meat. This and all the recipes in this book have been winners. And her garam masala recipe is the best, so I keep a double batch of that on hand at all times.

  • lisari on February 02, 2025

    Bought this book based on reddit recommendations for this recipe & was not disappointed. Used 2 lbs. thighs, will use 3 next time.

  • racheljmorgan on January 19, 2025

    Doubled the salt and chicken thighs as others suggested, left all the sauce in. I'd just do crushed tomatoes next time. Very good. Link from non-paywalled website: https://food52.com/recipes/74991-urvashi-pitre-s-now-later-instant-pot-butter-chicken.

  • sydlikestocook on January 31, 2024

    I was wary about increasing the salt and adding sugar as some of the other posters suggested - but I highly recommend it! Doubled the chicken and there was still leftover sauce.

  • cook_fresco on January 25, 2024

    Very good. Used polpa Mutti tomatoes and 1.2 kg, mini chicken fillets. Used a quarter of a block of Bartz creamed coconut, 3 ounces butter and about 100 mil double cream. Used extra garam masala, 1 tbsp sugar and about 6 tablespoons ground almonds

  • Ishie1013 on June 23, 2023

    Wow! This tastes better than restaurant meals. I used the coconut milk and didn't freeze half the sauce. Only other change I made was thighs, not breasts, and it was amazing. I served it with a great garlic naan recipe I found on youtube. This will be my go to recipe.

  • LifeofPie on May 24, 2023

    This was so good that I can't believe that I made it! I did follow all of the suggestions below and made notes in my book before starting the recipe and I think that helped. I left the chicken breasts whole as instructed and when I opened the pot they looked anemic, but once I cut it up and put it back in the sauce it was fine. I used two Mary's boneless skinless chicken breasts and they were cooked perfectly.

  • dc151 on April 05, 2022

    Not the best butter chicken I’ve made, but makes up for that by being streamlined and an easy weeknight meal. I usually double or triple the chicken and we never have leftovers.

  • eszpee on March 07, 2022

    Doubled the meat and the salt, as others noted. I added a bit of water because I was afraid there’s not going to be enough juices to build pressure, but it was probably unnecessary. Very flavorful.

  • dc151 on January 04, 2022

    I have made this many times. Simple, a family favorite. I usually double the chicken at least, and use thighs instead of breasts. Coconut milk is the better choice IMHO

  • jenmacgregor18 on August 22, 2019

    Super simple. very little prep. Wonderful results. I used coconut milk w/ butter. So, I used saute function to thicken sauce after removing chicken.

  • CindyinOttawa on December 03, 2018

    In my 8-quart Instant Pot I doubled the recipe fully, followed it exactly (although I used ghee instead of butter) and used the same cooking time. Delicious! Butter Chicken isn't supposed to be spicy hot, and it wasn't...just excellent flavour, and the texture was perfect. I like having extra sauce to freeze and use another time.

  • Rinshin on November 13, 2018

    Like the previous reviewers, I did not see the point in freezing half the sauce for later use and do not care for the use of half canned anything, so I used the whole can of coconut milk, 2 lbs of bone in chicken which was removed after cooking and adding back the meat in big chunks. Pureed the sauce and decided to bulk up the sauce by cooking it down a bit and also adding sliced paneer. Reduced the cayenne to 1/2 tsp only and after tasting the sauce, 1+ tsp sugar was also added. With these modifications, we were very happy with the results and made for best tasting butter chicken I've made so far.

  • stef on October 04, 2018

    Nicely spiced. I blended my can of tomatoes and added them to instant pot. That way I didn't have to take chicken out to blend. Will cut my chicken thighs in bigger pieces next time

  • sarahawker on August 16, 2018

    Definitely reason enough to buy this book. Delicious, just wonderful. The recipe that actually got me using the pressure cooker again. Used the leftover sauce with tofu and that was amazing too.

  • rionafaith on May 14, 2018

    Very good, though I wish the sauce were thicker! May try to reduce it more next time before adding the coconut milk and butter. Instead of only cooking 1 lb of chicken (which barely seemed enough for 4 servings once cooked) and removing half the sauce (why???), I just used 2 lbs of chicken straight off (2 boneless skinless breasts). I cut them into large chunks before cooking, but the timing seems intended for whole pieces and they were a tad overcooked, so I will leave them intact and cut after pressure cooking next time. Perfect heat level for me.

  • purpleshiny on March 31, 2018

    I made this using tandoori masala in place of all the powdered spices except the garam masala (a friend had just made a trip to India and given me some tandoori masala) and it was excellent.

  • hirsheys on March 25, 2018

    The first time I made this I didn't use the full amount of butter because I just couldn't bring myself to and sure enough, it was unimpressive. The second time, I sucked it up and followed the recipe, except that I made it with paneer instead of chicken. It came out great! A few quick changes - I only used 1 heaping tsp of garam masala (I ran out) and didn't wish for more, used only 1/2 tsp of my incredibly hot cayenne, and used heaping amounts of the rest of the spices, including (especially) salt. I also added a pinch of sugar and did not add the extra 1/4 c of water that the note on the right said to add when not using chicken. The only thing I'd change next time is that I'd microplane the ginger so that it really melts into the sauce.

  • janeh9 on March 21, 2018

    Incredible! This will be a frequent repeat!

  • PennyG on November 15, 2017

    Wow! This was absolutely delicious and easy too - in the Instant Pot. A definite make again and again and again ...

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